Mt. Idaho

Location: Lost River Range, ID
Date: September, 2010
Expedition Members: Jeff, Barak, Taylor, Micah and Levi Watson; Katie, Laura, and Bekah Cox, Matthew Liscinski
Goal: To summit the peak of Mt. Idaho

A view from the slopes of Mt. Idaho

This ended up being a last minute trip to bag a peak before getting into the school year. Mt Idaho ended up being a good choice because it had close access from the road but was still seldom climbed because of its proximity to Mt Borah, Idaho's tallest peak.  Mt Idaho is also one of Idaho's 9 peaks over 12,000' and it's jagged faces and rugged ridges made for a exciting, hard day of mountaineering.


We camped at the Borah trailhead the night we drove down, and in the morning proceeded to drive down the road to our access point.  Although there was not much of a visible trail the first part of the hike was easy going, mostly following a dried stream bed with a few short climbs.  As we got on the more barren slopes of the peak however it quickly became steep. One of the most rewarding features of climbing in the Lost River Range is the rugged faces of all the peaks surrounding us. While we had chosen the summit of Mt. Idaho as our trophy of the day we would have been no less happy to have been climbing any of the peaks that surrounded us.

After a long time spent gaining elevation on the steep rocky slopes we began traversing the few exposed ridges that stood between us and the final climb to the summit.  The ridges were made difficult because of the exposure and loose rock, but the crossing was made successfully without much difficulty and we were now were ready for the final push to the top.


 The summit was made without incident after a long climb, and we were rewarded with spectacular views of the valley below as well as the surrounding peaks. The Lost River Range contains 7 of the 9 Idaho peaks over 12,000', putting us in some very good company.

Borah Peak from Mt. Idaho

After spending some time at the top taking pictures and absorbing the surrounding view we made our descent. The climb had taken longer than we had originally planned for so we decided to try what looked like a faster route back. Although the new return route was indeed a shorter distance, it involved coming down the very steep face of Mt. Idaho in what had now become very low light conditions.  We determined it still looked doable however and continued on. 

The Descent

About a quarter of the way down we quickly began realizing that this route had been a mistake. It was now dark, and although equipped with flashlights and blessed with the light of a full moon the descent of a steep rocky face in the dark is a much different event than doing so in the daylight. The exposed face of the mountain was made worse by the darkness that it led into, and the route down required climbing down multiple short sections of vertical face.  The slow and tedious route involved lots of scouting ahead and with our lack of climbing gear required very careful foot and hand placement but together we were able to get off the cliff face and back into the much appreciated shale field at the bottom of the peak.  

There was still a long hike back to the truck, but it felt good to be back on solid ground again. The path back to the truck was a little more difficult since it was not the way we had come in and was in the dark, but we successfully made it back and were very thankful for the ending to a long and tiring day.

  

The whole trip had a theme of flying by the seat of our pants, which is one of the reasons it was so enjoyable.  The decision to to climb the peak was last minute and our route to the top was whatever looked doable.  The descent was more than we should have done with our lack of equipment, but we made it out safely and are blessed now with memories and stories to share.

View from the top

Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD from the heavens,

praise Him in the heights above.

Praise Him, all his angels,

praise Him, all his heavenly hosts.

Praise Him, sun and moon,

praise Him, all you shining stars.

Praise Him, you highest heavens

and you waters above the skies.

Let them praise the name of the LORD,

for He commanded and they were created.

Psalm 148:1-5